Orica-Scott rider Esteban Chaves dropped from second to third place after a difficult day in the Vuelta a España, crossing the line at 1'51" from race leader Chris Froome.

The Colombian was dropped on the final climb of the day and slowly but surely lost terrain on most of his rivals for the general classification. He was initially helped by teammate Jack Haig but had to do the last few kilometers by himself.

"It was a very difficult day," Chaves told COPE radio. "At the end when Bahrain-Merida pulled and (Vincenzo) Nibali and (Alberto) Contador attacked, it was the last time I saw the head of the race.

"The important thing today was to keep the rhythm and minimise the losses. There are days that are tough and others that are easier. Today was a difficult day for us. We had a tactic with Simon (Yates) letting him go in front and well, those things sometimes go well and on other days not so much. Life is like that.

"We all did a very good job and like I said, sometimes things turn out well, sometimes they don't and that's it."

With Nibali moving up to second place, Chaves dropped to third at 2'33" from Froome.